Method for Manufacturing a Fluid Purification Device

ABSTRACT

A method of manufacturing a fluid purification device is provided. The method included forming a filter receptacle, and the filter receptacle may be configured to receive a filter. Moreover, the method includes attaching the filter receptacle to one or more membrane material and sealing the one or more membrane material such that a holding portion of the filtration device is formed, the holding portion including a first holding part and a second holding part. The method also includes attaching the filter to the filter receptacle such that the attachment forms a seal.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/088156, filed Dec. 5, 2014, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

This application contains related subject matter to U.S. application Ser. No. 14/958,546 (Attorney Docket No. 113443.68510US), filed on Dec. 3, 2015, entitled “Fluid Filtration Device.”

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Clean drinking water is a necessity of life. Access to clean drinking water, however, can be extremely difficult and sometimes impossible in various settings, situations, and/or circumstances. For example, water found in developing countries may often be dirty, microbe-infested, and unsafe to consume. In another example, military personnel and/or recreationists may run out of water in unfamiliar terrain and may have to rely on water from natural sources, such as streams, ponds, lakes, rivers, which may also be dirty, microbe-infested and unsafe to consume. In a further example, various types of contaminations in water supplies may cause significant shortages of clean drinking water for cities, towns, municipalities, and the like, in a short period of time. In yet another example, natural disasters, such as floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, etc. may render access to clean drinking water extremely difficult immediately after the disaster event. In the above-examples, there is a need for immediate access to and/or consumption of clean drinking water.

One way to meet this need is by way of storing and transporting clean drinking water in vast quantities. After a natural disaster, for instance, large quantities of bottled water are typically shipped to the disaster site. Doing so, however, can be very expensive and time consuming Moreover, numerous packages of bottled water inherently require large physical spaces for storage in warehouses and transportation in trucks. And in most cases, disaster sites may not receive shipments of bottled water until several days after the disaster event, which contributes to overall devastation. In addition, disposal of bottled water may also pose additional problems, such as pollution in or around the disaster site and harm to the environment.

Another way to meet the need for clean drinking water is by way of purification. Water may be purified in different ways, for example, chemically (e.g., chlorination), physically (e.g., filtration), thermally (e.g., fire, heat), UV light (e.g., sunlight), and flocculation. However, all of these purification techniques have various limitations.

For example, devices that use solar disinfection or boil water are neither easy to ship nor fast to use. Moreover, the addition of chemicals into water via chlorination or flocculation may pose safety issues and/or life threatening risks if improperly used. Moreover, most microfiltration devices are neither cost-effective nor safe according to WHO and EPA guidelines. Most microfiltration devices require vertical head pressure above the filter to create clean water. To create this pressure in a small portable system, most of these devices have storage areas connected to a filter through a long piece of plastic tube. The use of many detachable components in these microfiltration devices render them expensive, bulky, and susceptible to contamination.

In that regard, a fluid purification device that is cost effective, space-efficient, and safe, and a method for manufacturing the fluid purification device is needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to method for manufacturing a fluid purification device.

In one aspect of the invention, a method of manufacturing a filtration device is provided. The method includes forming a filter receptacle, and the filter receptacle may be configured to receive a filter. Moreover, the method includes attaching the filter receptacle to one or more membrane material and sealing the one or more membrane material such that a holding portion of the filtration device is formed, and the holding portion includes a first holding part and a second holding part. The method also includes attaching the filter to the filter receptacle such that the attachment forms a seal.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be recognized that the one or more examples in the disclosure are non-limiting examples and that the present invention is intended to encompass variations and equivalents of these examples. The disclosure is written for those skilled in the art. Although the disclosure use terminology and acronyms that may not be familiar to the layperson, those skilled in the art will be familiar with the terminology and acronyms used herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a flow chart diagram of a method of manufacturing a fluid purification device in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure directed to a method for manufacturing a fluid purification device. The fluid purification device, such as a filtration device, is discussed in detail in U.S. application Ser. No. 14/958,546 filed Dec. 3, 2015, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. According to one aspect of the disclosure, the method may be carried out on plastic converting machines, which are machines that take may take plastic film and convert them into various devices.

FIG. 1 illustrates a flow chart of a method 100 of manufacturing the filtration device. The filtration device includes a holding portion having opposed flexible sidewalls and a filter arranged in between the opposed flexible sidewalls. The filtration device may be a single continuous unit manufactured from membrane material, such as plastic. As such, one or more sheets and/or layers of plastic may be used to manufacture the filtration device.

At block 102, the method may include preparing a filter. The filter may include metal-ion particles, such as silver nanoparticles. The filter may also include a filter substrate. Subsequently, at block 104, a filter receptacle may be created using techniques such as injection molding, die cut, and/or vacuum forming. For example, the filter receptacle may be a plastic receptacle die cut and configured to receive a liquid silicon rubber filter surround structure or other such frames surrounding the filter substrate. In another example, the filter receptacle may be heat sealed directly to the filter media.

At block 106, the filter receptacle may then be attached between two membrane structures (e.g., flexible sidewalls of a holding portion of the filtration device) by placing the filter receptacle on a first membrane material followed by placing the second membrane material. The membrane structure may include various types of structures, including a tubular membrane structure which may be formed as one membrane with two sides. In this example, the filter receptacle may be arranged between the two sides of the tubular membrane.

At block 108, the first membrane material and the second membrane material are sealed using various techniques, such as heating sealing, the use of adhesives, etc., at the required seams while welding the filter receptacle to the membrane material. In some examples, the filter receptacle may be attached between the sidewalls of the holding portion of the filtration device after the first and second membrane materials have been sealed at the seams. In further examples, the method 100 may also include the attachment of a bottom to the sidewalls of the holding portion by heat sealing. In that regard, the sealing of the first and the second membrane material with the filter surrounding structure (e.g., holding portion with flexible sidewalls) may create the first chamber (e.g., the upper chamber) and a second chamber (e.g., the lower chamber) of the filtration device.

In one aspect of the present disclosure, the filter may then be positioned such that it is disposed and/or attached to the filter receptacle to create a water tight seal, at block 110. In that regard, fluid received in the first chamber can flow through the filter and produce clean filtrate, which is collected in the second chamber. In some examples, the filter may be directly sealed to the membrane structure (e.g., one of the sidewalls of the holding portion of the filtration device) via techniques such as heat sealing, over molding, use of adhesives, and/or welding.

The filter may be formed by manufacturing a filter substrate such as, blotting paper impregnated with silver nanoparticles using any techniques, and creating a surround structure for the filter substrate with a suitable support material such as liquid silicon rubber or plastic.

In further aspects of the present disclosure, the sidewalls of the holding portion of the filtration device may include a first sheet and a second sheet, but may also be formed by folding a single sheet membrane material (e.g., plastic), or even a tubular sheet material with no side seals.

At block 112, a dispensing portion may be attached to the filtration device. In some examples, the dispensing portion may be attached to the filtration device by attaching (e.g., via heat sealing) the flexible tubular dispenser to an outlet, such as an opening, of the second chamber. In certain other examples, the tubular dispenser may simply be inserted and/or immersed into an outlet of the second chamber. At block 114, a connector, such as a straw clip or a latch, may be molded and/or welded to a sidewall of the filtration device for fixing the tubular dispenser to the filtration device, in an upright position.

In some aspects of the disclosure, at block 116, tabs having through-holes may also be attached to the filtration device and hanging strings and/or ties may be secured or tied to the tabs, using hooks or other suitable means, for easy carrying, hanging during filtration, fluid collection, and/or transportation of the filtration device while holding fluid and/or filtrate.

The blocks and/or steps, as described above, may be performed using any techniques such as heat sealing, welding, injection molding, vacuum forming, and combinations thereof Moreover, when manufacturing the filtration device via a plastic converting machine using one or more layers fed through the machine, registering the external layers may not be relevant while the internal layer that holds the filter(s) are required to be registered at each station of the converting machine.

The above method of the present disclosure is by way of example only, and other known methods of manufacture are within the scope of this disclosure. In some embodiments, the order of the steps may vary or some steps may be deleted, without deviating from the principles of this disclosure.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention are apparent from the foregoing detailed description of the one or more preferred embodiments, examples and aspects. It should be recognized that the one or more examples in the disclosure are non-limiting examples and that the present invention is intended to encompass variations and equivalents of these examples. 

1. A method of manufacturing a filtration device, the method comprising the acts of: forming a filter receptacle, wherein the filter receptacle is configured to receive a filter; attaching the filter receptacle to one or more membrane material; sealing the one or more membrane material such that a holding portion of the filtration device is formed, wherein the holding portion includes a first holding part and a second holding part; and attaching the filter to the filter receptacle such that the attachment forms a seal.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming a dispensing portion.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising attaching the dispensing portion to the filtration device.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming a connector.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising attaching the connector to the filtration device.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the connector is configured to hold the dispensing portion upward along a side of the holding portion of the filtration device.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming one or more tabs on the filtration device.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising attaching at least one of a string and a tie to the one or more tabs.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first holding part is configured to receive fluid.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second holding part is configured to collect filtrate.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more membrane material is a plastic sheet.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the method of manufacturing the filtration device is performed via one or more plastic converting machines, the one or more plastic converting machines including one or more stations.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming one or more handles from the holding portion of the filtration device. 